What's the point of Object Orientation?

Object Orientation (OO) is often introduced in terms of how it is implemented by a specific language. However, understanding the theory underlying OO is not quite the same as understanding how OO concepts are supported by a particular language. It is insightful to understand the simple OO fundamentals and how these map to the particular implementation provided by Python.

In this talk I will first explain the very basics of OO from a language-neutral point of view with the aim of showing what OO can offer you and to give a glimpse of the simple mathematical theory underlying OO. I hope to give you enough information to help you distinguish between better and worse designs and to detect whether you’re using OO as it was intended. I will also very briefly show how these fundamentals map to Python.

This talk is for anyone: whether you’re new at Object Orientation, or a practitioner wondering whether OO is worth the effort you’ve spent trying to use it.